Trial Date Set in Diener Murder Case

A tentative trial date has been set for the man charged with murdering Lyon Village resident Carl Diener.

Roger K. Clark III is facing a first degree murder charge in connection with the 2009 slaying of Diener. The 57-year-old Diener was found lying on a Clarendon side street in the early morning of Dec. 29, 2009. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

After a year and a half investigation, police arrested Clark and another man in June. The other suspect has since been released, while Clark faces a jury trial that’s currently scheduled to begin on Jan. 9, 2012.

The trial is expected to last at least four days, according to Diener’s sister.

Forgive me if I missed this in the previous stories, but did the police state a motive in this case? Was it robbery?

Ivy

Good question. I was wondering the same thing

Susan

I don’t think a motive has been reported in the previous stories so far, but I would like to know too, I think everyone would. I am just so glad they caught who did it, Carl was such a kind person.

CW

I thought the trial hadn’t started yet?

Susan

Starts on Jan 9th.

SomeGuy

Susan, I think CW’s point is that no one has been convicted in a court of law (i.e. the trial hasn’t started), but your statement that “they caught who did it” implies that you’ve already appointed yourself his judge and jury.

CW

We have a winner.

If the court finds him guilty – send him up the river. Until then, please respect our legal system.

Bezek

Susan just use “Allegedly” and its all good. Seems to work for the media.

CW

Yep, examples include anything ESPN has ever written about Penn State and anything that ESPN never wrote about Syracuse.

Susan

Oh give me a break, this isn’t the damn newspaper here! look at all the foolish and innacurate crap people write here. I was only expressing an opinion, please excuse my not wording it exactly right your majesties!

always right

It sounds like CW and Bezek have already found him innocent so don’t worry about their remarks.

CW

Wow, we’ve got a couple real smart ones here. No one has “found him innocent”; it’s simply that a couple of us here have heard of something called the “Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution”. Here is the wikipedia link in case you can’t use the Googles to find it:

While I am fairly certain that after this length of time, no arrests would be made until police were fairly certain they had their man, I would like to stress, just as CW has, the importance of our 6th amendment. Mr Clark is innocent until proven otherwise. The fact that he has been charged does not necessarily mean guilt. Guilt is to be determined once the legal process has run it’s course. If found innocent, he’s still lost 6 months of his life rotting in a jail cell and will undoubtedly suffer the rest of his life for the stigma attached to being an accused murdered. Remember he is only 20 years old, that’s awfully young. Now, that said, if Mr Clark did in fact murder Mr Diener, I hope that he is found guilty and spends the rest of his life behind bars for such a heinous crime. Only once a verdict has been passed can this case actually be considered closed.

BelloPoccinni

Thanks to Arlnow for providing some information about our prosecutor’s office — an office that operates in secrecy most of the time.